Austin Startup

MARCH 4, 2019

2019 Capital Factory VIP Lounge during SXSW Interactive The 16th floor kitchen and coworking area will be buzzing with even more energy and excitement than normal. Then we reach out to all of the venture capitalists, accelerators and coworking spaces to spread the word. You can see a much larger list at the end.

Silicon Valley 50

Silicon Valley Technical Review Texas Venture Capital 50

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

The subject of raising money is critical to many businesses and a passing option to others, depending upon the capital efficiency of the enterprise. And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2014

I had witnessed a number of early-stage tech startups in LA raise seed capital from the Bay Area and relocate. It was 2009 and it was terribly difficult to get any financing (if you can remember a time like that!) And Jim & I went on to raise several more venture capital funds in our day jobs. So we went for it.

Early Stage 290

Early Stage Venture Capital Los Angeles Coder 290

Austin Startup

MARCH 1, 2018

It’s stocked with free food, drinks and wifi but the real reason you want to be there is because we’ve curated all of the top entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators at SXSW and invited them to stop by. Then we reach out to all of the venture capitalists, accelerators and coworking spaces to spread the word. and easy to remember?—?framework

Technical Review 89

Technical Review Austin Texas Cofounder 89

Steve Blank

JULY 1, 2014

Investors sitting through Incubator or Accelerator demo days have three metrics to judge fledgling startups – 1) great looking product demos, 2) compelling PowerPoint slides, and 3) a world-class team. a language corporate innovation groups can use to communicate to business units and finance. Enables better mentoring.

Sacramento 308

Sacramento Framework Customer Development Lean 308

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

To begin with, it is important to understand some basic facts about the world of entrepreneurial finance: There are many more entrepreneurs than there are investors, with the result that only one company out of every 400 that seeks venture funding actually receives it.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

In that presentation, I said that Seed is not the first round of financing any more and that K9’s investments were mostly “pre-seed”. The Venture Capital industry as a whole does a terrible job of giving things the right name and so we end up keeping the same name, but changing the meaning out from under it. the Venture Spiral).

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Genuine VC

JANUARY 13, 2014

I’ve commonly heard entrepreneurs recite some version of “I don’t want to waste too much time fundraising because it will distract me from building my business, so I’ll only talk to a few potential funders.” Venture capital firms are comprised of people, which natural means that their idiosyncrasies seep into the process.

Term Sheet 206

Term Sheet Venture Capital Valuation Portfolio 206

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Conversion rate from phone calls to Demos. (If Conversion rate from Demos to Closed Deals. (If If this is low, it means the sales person needs better demo training.) On your inside sales section, I am not sure that maximizing point #3 (dials to demos) is always optimal. Average Deal Size. (If

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

Genuine VC

JULY 10, 2012

There are essentially two distinct basic strategies for startup entrepreneurs to raise a seed round of capital: Subscription approach – An entrepreneur sets a structure (usually a convertible note) and recruits individual angel investors who subscribe to the round, all without a term-driving lead investor.

Syndicate 207

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Portfolio 207

Haystack

OCTOBER 2, 2019

all together) combined with the culture of “demo days,” in-person gatherings where angels and professional investors collide with entrepreneurs. Yesterday, I tweeted this: I get emails from friends @ accelerators, asking me what kind of co’s I’m interested in, or to watch online demo day (no), etc.

Deal Flow 106

Deal Flow Cap Table Early Stage Institutional Investors 106

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

The subject of raising money is critical to many businesses and a passing option to others, depending upon the capital efficiency of the enterprise. And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup. For you who fit that description, nice work.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 30, 2014

The class provides Life Science/Health Care entrepreneurs with real world, hands-on learning on how to rapidly : define clinical utility before spending millions of dollars. identify financing vehicles before you need them. identify financing vehicles before you need them. It Takes a Village. It has density,” he said.

San Diego 262

San Diego North Carolina Chicago Lean 262

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2009

The initial hypothesis for Epiphany (from my much smarter partner Ben ) was that as departments in the enterprise (manufacturing, finance, customer support sales) became automated, the marketing department would eventually get its turn. As a young entrepreneur in his first startup, this post hits our current situation spot on.

Silicon Valley 232

Silicon Valley Non-disclosure Agreement NDA Startup 232

www.quora.com

JANUARY 16, 2011

Find Questions, Topics and People Add Question Add Question Venture Capital Venture Capital Term Sheets Startups Term Sheets What are examples of good startup term sheets? Mark Suster • Nov 1, 2010 Here is a post on Brad Feld's blog on the seed financing docs he found, some of which you mention: [link] chives/.

Term Sheet 41

Term Sheet Startup Angel Investor Wiki 41

Professor VC

APRIL 7, 2011

This will also serve as a good pointer for all the entrepreneurs who ask why I am not interested in their company led convertible note financing round. Ive seen a number of entrepreneurs, angels and VCs fall into the trap of providing debt in small pieces. In cases where it is truly a bridge financing (i.e.

San Jose 36

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Valuation 36

Professor VC

APRIL 1, 2010

was part of a Dow Jones VentureWire webinar last week titled Negotiating An Angel Deal: What Angels, Entrepreneurs & VCs Need to Know. One comment made by Jason was that angels tend to be less sensitive than VCs on valuation and can potentially make it difficult to get a venture financing done at acceptable valuation.

Term Sheet 32

Term Sheet Angel Investor San Jose Venture Capital 32

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

However, I have seen some blog posts posing the question about whether the same principles of valuing baseball players could be applied to entrepreneurs. I encourage entrepreneurs to give it a shot and let me know what you think. Are DEMO's days numbered? The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review Early Stage San Jose Angel Investor 38

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 2, 2012

Demo Day is a week away and I did my annual “talk about how to finance your company” thing which included meeting with each company and giving them advice on where they were in the process. One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is to assume “all VCs are the same.”

Venture Capital 140

Venture Capital Programming Finance Web 140

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

This post highlights some of the reasons why the market is moving again and what entrepreneurs should do about this. So what is driving the new energy in the remaining venture capital firms when we kept hearing how much the whole industry was “against the ropes?&# … 1. So get out there and start raising your capital!

IPO 255

IPO Investment Bankers Venture Capital Marketing 255

Professor VC

MARCH 10, 2009

In other parts of the country, this is business as usual: Identify a customer need Build a product Sell the product In the valley, the knee jerk reaction is to start with the powerpoint deck and look for the venture capital drug. Jon Fisher purposely avoided raising venture capital in his ventures. ► 2010. (7).

Bootstrapping 28

Bootstrapping San Jose Silicon Valley Software Review 28

Professor VC

NOVEMBER 19, 2009

I attended the annual LP meeting for a venture capital firm this week and got into a discussion about the above question. At a high level, I definitely agree that being an entrepreneur and being in school dont necessarily mix. And what would you consider to be core values that every entrepreneur should keep in mind?

San Jose 43

San Jose Silicon Valley Las Vegas Venture Capital 43

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

For simplicity I’ll assume you’ve raised some money from angels or seed investors and you’re either raising an A round or a B round of venture capital. Remember, I was an entrepreneur for 10 years before a VC). Most entrepreneurs don’t put enough effort into these phases. these are simply guidelines.

Term Sheet 332

Term Sheet Due Diligence Campaign Sales 332

Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2008

The spring semester of my Entrepreneurial Finance class starts tomorrow. During the next four months, we will examine over a dozen entrepreneurial ventures from a diverse mix of industries - technology, service, food & beverage, and fashion. There used to be a fairly standard career path in the venture capital industry.

San Jose 28

San Jose Technical Review Angel Investor Venture Capital 28

Up and Running

JANUARY 30, 2014

To thrust our venture forward, gain business skills quickly, and increase our chances of raising capital, we searched for an accelerator program. Accelerators are short entrepreneur training programs designed to jump-start new businesses. Marketing the site and creating a business behind the product proved much more challenging.

Incubator 105

Incubator New York City Venture Capital Startup 105

Professor VC

DECEMBER 18, 2008

The NIF (in its 5th year), is essentially a science fair for entrepreneurs. However, the NIF forces the students to focus on their idea and ability to communicate its need, kind of like the Demo conference is all about the product. Are DEMO's days numbered? The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic.

San Jose 28

San Jose Silicon Valley Technical Review Angel Investor 28

venturebeat.com

MARCH 8, 2011

fredrick peterson Hello we are Loan lender and a cooperate financial for real estate and all types of business financing. You have a salary and probably won't be as money conscious a full time entrepreneur, so you will tend to spend more, sometimes to cover your guilt for not being there always. A couple thoughts: 1.

Software Review 41

Software Review Startup Technical Review Mobile 41

Professor VC

JANUARY 20, 2009

The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic. The latest statistics from VentureSource show 554 financings in Q4, down from 620 in Q3 and 718 in Q4 2007. million for the year, which is the first time it has been below $5 million since 2001, a sign that capital efficiency will be even more important than it has.

Venture Capital 28

Venture Capital Silicon Valley San Jose Bootstrapping 28

Professor VC

MAY 29, 2008

An entrepreneur will pitch their business plan to what they think is a group of angel investors and will get a number of follow-up calls afterwards, but they are pitches for services not investment interest. The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) was also represented at the conference and is forging closer links with the ACA.

Angel Investor 28

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor San Jose 28

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

I have noticed this same feeling when making a venture capital or angel investment. While spending time with the entrepreneurs and championing the deal through the group, you tend to become emotionally attached. However, I was glad to see they were able to raise financing and launch the service. Steve Bennet. at 5:28 PM.

San Jose 31

San Jose Technical Review Venture Capital Angel Investor 31

Professor VC

JANUARY 17, 2008

I think the title of this post is a TV show, but fitting as there has been much debate in the venture community as to the whether angel investors are good or bad for entrepreneurs and VCs. One group charges entrepreneurs "an administrative fee" to present to the group. Touched by an Angel. Back to the panel.

Pre-Money Valuation 28

Pre-Money Valuation Angel Investor Angel Groups Valuation 28

Professor VC

FEBRUARY 26, 2008

As I mentioned in the previous post, Jeff Fluhr (founder of StubHub) recently stopped by my Entrepreneurial Finance class to share his 4 Lessons of Entrepreneurship with the students. Do you have the right make-up to be an entrepreneur? Are DEMO's days numbered? The Most Important Venture Capital Statistic.

Technical Review 28

Technical Review San Jose Angel Investor Silicon Valley 28

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 7, 2010

Jon Feiber of Mohr Davidow Ventures and Ann Miura-Ko of Floodgate are co-teaching the class with me (and Alexander Osterwalder is a guest lecturer.) We have two great teaching assistants , plus we’ve rounded up a team of 25 mentors (VC’s and entrepreneurs) to help coach the teams. Why Teach This Class? to optimize this search.

Wiki 312

Wiki Lean Management Business Model 312

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

10 Ways To Be Your Own Boss - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , June 18, 2010 The folks at Behance and Cool Hunting asked me to talk at their 99% Conference a couple months ago. You’re Not a Real Entrepreneur - Steve Blank , June 10, 2010 Who is an entrepreneur really? Yes, even bootstrappers. Let's see why.

Cofounder 175

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Term Sheet Startup 175

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

How To Pitch A Product - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , August 4, 2010 I've said a bunch of times on this blog that the perfect pitch is a very short intro to provide context followed immediately by a demo. He blogs to 10,000 web entrepreneurs at Software by Rob and co-hosts the podcast Startups for the Rest of Us.

Startup 191

Startup CTO Hire Cofounder Venture Capital 191

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. The Traditional VC Pitch Entrepreneurs who pursue the traditional product development model don’t have customer data to answer these questions. How many are there? Is there a profitable business model?

Customer Development 264

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 264

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I’ve raised money as a “hot company” and I’ve raised capital when no one would return my phone calls. I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. Trust doesn’t come from one 45-minute Powerpoint pitch or 30-minute demo. Why buy me?

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366